英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

abbreviate: abbreviate: see brief
bolshevik: bolshevik: [20] Russian bol’ shévik is a derivative of ból’ shiy, the comparative form of the adjective ból’ shoy ‘big’. It was originally applied, at the 1903 congress of the Russian Social Democratic Party, to those party members who wished to go for a ‘big’, or extreme, socialist programme (in contrast with the more moderate Mensheviks – from Russian mén’ shij ‘less’); but since the Bolsheviks outnumbered the Mensheviks, the word soon became interpreted as ‘those in the majority in the party’. The transferred use of the English abbreviation bolshy to mean ‘stubbornly uncooperative’ dates from around 1918.
=> debility
breviary: breviary: see brief
brevity: brevity: see brief
crevice: crevice: [14] Rather like crack, the word crevice began with the notion of the sharp noise of breaking and gradually developed to denote the fissure caused by such a break. It comes ultimately from the Latin verb crepāre ‘creak, rattle, crack’ (source of English crepitation [17] and decrepit, and probably also of craven), which passed into Old French as crever ‘burst, split’. From this was derived the noun crevace, borrowed into Middle English as crevace or crevisse. In modern French it developed into crevasse, which English reborrowed in the 19th century.
=> craven, crepitation, crevasse, decrepit
deviate: deviate: see devious
device: device: [13] A device is something which has been devised – which, etymologically speaking, amounts to ‘something which has been divided’. For ultimately devise and divide come from the same source. The noun device comes in the first instance from Old French devis ‘division, contrivance’ and latterly (in the 15th century) from Old French devise ‘plan’, both of which were derivatives of the verb deviser ‘divide, devise’ (source of English devise [13]).

This in turn came from Vulgar Latin *dīvisāre, a verb based on the past participial stem of Latin dīvidere, source of English divide. The semantic development by which ‘divide’ passed to ‘contrive’, presumably based on the notion that dividing something up and distributing it needs some planning, happened before the word reached English, and English device has never meant ‘division’.

The sense ‘simple machine’ essentially evolved in the 16th century.
=> devise, divide, individual, widow
devil: devil: [OE] English acquired devil in the 8th century via late Latin diabolus from Greek diábolos, which originally meant ‘slanderer’. It was a derivative of diabállein ‘slander’, a compound verb literally meaning ‘throw across’, formed from diá ‘across’ and bállein ‘throw’ (whence English ballistics). The Greek word has reached most European languages: for example French diable, Italian diavolo, German teufel, Dutch duivel, Swedish djāvul, and Russian djavol. It has also given English diabolical [16], and indeed diabolo [20], a game played by spinning a top (named from a variant of Italian diavolo) on a string.
=> ballistics, diabolical
devious: devious: [16] Devious and its close relative deviate [17] are both based on the notion of going ‘out of the way’. They come respectively from Latin dēvius and dēviāre, compound adjective and verb formed from the prefix dē- ‘from’ and via ‘way’.
=> deviate, via
evict: evict: [15] Ultimately, evict and evince [17] are the same word, although they have diverged considerably over the centuries. Both come from Latin ēvincere, a compound verb formed from the prefix ex- ‘out’ and vincere (source of English victory). This originally meant ‘defeat, conquer’, but a whole range of secondary legal senses developed: ‘recover something by defeating an opponent in a legal action’; ‘eject by judicial process’; and ‘prove by legal argument’.

Both evict (acquired from the Latin past participle ēvictus) and evince have in the past been used for ‘conquer’ and ‘prove’, and it was not until the 18th century that they settled into their present meanings.
=> evince, victory
evident: evident: [14] Something that is evident is literally something that can be ‘seen’. The word comes via Old French from Latin ēvidēns ‘clear, obvious’, a compound formed from the intensive prefix ex- and the present participle of videre ‘see’ (source of English vision). The Latin derivative ēvidentia (from which English gets evidence [13]) meant originally ‘distinction’ and later ‘proof’, basis of the main current sense of evidence, ‘testimony which establishes the facts’.
=> view, vision
evil: evil: [OE] Evil has got distinctly worse over the millennia. Originally it seems to have signified nothing more sinister than ‘uppity’, and in the Old and Middle English period it meant simply ‘bad’; it is only in modern English that its connotations of ‘extreme moral wickedness’ came to the fore. It probably comes ultimately from *upelo- a derivative of the Indo-European base *upo- ‘under’ (source of Greek hupó ‘under’, Sanskrit upa ‘at, to’, and English up and over), and so its underlying connotation is of ‘exceeding due limits, extremism’.

Its Germanic descendant was *ubilaz, source of German übel ‘evil’ as well as English evil.
=> over, up
evince: evince: see evict
inevitable: inevitable: [15] Latin ēvītāre meant ‘avoid’. It was a compound verb formed from the prefix ex- ‘away, from’ and vītāre ‘shun’, and actually produced an English verb evite ‘avoid’, a scholarly 16th-century introduction which survived as an archaism into the 19th century. Its derived adjective was ēvītābilis ‘avoidable’, which with the negative prefix became inēvītābilis.
revile: revile: see vile
revise: revise: see visit
revive: revive: see vivid
television: television: [20] Television means etymologically ‘far vision’. Its first element, tele-, comes from Greek téle ‘far off’, a descendant of the same base as télos ‘end’ (source of English talisman and teleology). Other English compounds formed from it include telegraph [18], telegram [19], telepathy [19] (etymologically ‘far feeling’, coined by the psychologist Frederic Myers in 1882), telephone [19], telescope [17] (a word of Italian origin), and telex [20] (a blend of teleprinter and exchange). Television itself was coined in French, and was borrowed into English in 1907.

Of its abbreviations, telly dates from about 1940, TV from 1948.
=> talisman, teleology
vaudeville: vaudeville: [18] In 15th-century France there was a fashion for songs from the valley of the Vire, in the Calvados region of Normandy (particularly popular, apparently, were the satirical songs composed by a local fuller, Olivier Basselin). They were known as chansons du Vau de Vire ‘songs of the valley of the Vire’, which became shortened to vaudevire, and this was later altered to vaudeville. It was originally used in English for a ‘popular song’; the application to ‘light variety entertainment’ did not emerge until the early 19th century.
weevil: weevil: [15] Old English had a word wifel ‘beetle’, but this appears to have died out, and weevil was probably borrowed from Middle Low German wevel. Both words had the same ultimate origin, however: prehistoric Germanic *webilaz. It is not clear whether this was derived from the base *web-, *wab- ‘weave’ (source of English weave ‘make cloth’ and web), in which case the weevil would be the ‘weaving’ creature; or from the base *web- ‘move quickly’ (source of English weave ‘move in a zigzag way’, whip, etc), in which case it would be the ‘quick mover’.
abbreviate (v.): mid-15c., from Latin abbreviatus, past participle of abbreviare "to shorten" (see abbreviation). Also sometimes 15c. abbrevy, from Middle French abrevier (14c.), from Latin abbreviare. Related: Abbreviated; abbreviating.
abbreviation (n.): mid-15c., from Middle French abréviation (15c.), from Late Latin abbreviationem (nominative abbreviatio), noun of action from past participle stem of abbreviare "shorten, make brief," from Latin ad "to" (see ad-) + breviare "shorten," from brevis "short, low, little, shallow" (see brief (adj.)).
alleviate (v.): late 15c., from Middle French allevier or directly from Late Latin alleviatus, past participle of alleviare "to lighten," from Latin ad- "to" (see ad-) + levis "light" in weight (see lever). Related: Alleviated; alleviating.
alleviation (n.): early 15c., from Middle French aleviacion or directly from Medieval Latin alleviationem (nominative alleviatio), noun of action from past participle stem of alleviare (see alleviate).
Angevin: 1650s, "pertaining to the French province of Anjou," from French Angevin, from Medieval Latin Andegavinus, from Andegavum "Angers," city in France, capital of Anjou (Latin Andegavia, from Andecavi, Roman name of the Gaulish people who lived here, which is of unknown origin). In English history, of the Plantagenet kings (beginning with Henry II) who were descended from Geoffrey, count of Anjou, and Matilda, daughter of Henry I.
bedevil (v.): 1768, "to treat diabolically, abuse," from be- + verbal use of devil (q.v.). Meaning "to mischievously confuse" is from 1755; that of "to drive frantic" is from 1823. Related: Bedeviled (1570s, in a literal sense, "possessed"); bedeviling.
bedevilment (n.): 1825, from bedevil + -ment.
Bolshevik (n.): 1917, from Russian bol'shiy "greater," comparative of adjective bol'shoy "big, great" (as in Bolshoi Ballet), from Old Church Slavonic boljiji "larger," from PIE root *bel- "strong" (cognates: Sanskrit balam "strength, force," Greek beltion "better," Phrygian balaios "big, fast," Old Irish odbal "strong," Welsh balch "proud;" Middle Dutch, Low German, Frisian pal "strong, firm").

It was the faction of the Russian Social Democratic Worker's Party after a split in 1903 that was either larger or more extreme (or both) than the Mensheviks (from Russian men'shij "less"); after they seized power in 1917, applied generally to Russian communists. Bolshevism is recorded from 1917.
breviary (n.): 1540s, "brief statement;" sense of "short prayer book used by Catholic priests" is from 1610s, from Latin breviarium "summary," noun use of neuter of adjective breviarius "abridged," from breviare "to shorten, abbreviate," from brevis "short" (see brief (adj.)).
brevity (n.): c. 1500, from Latin brevitatem (nominative brevitas) "shortness" in space or time, from brevis "short" (see brief (adj.)).
Cheviot (n.): range of hills between Scotland and England, named for one of them, The Cheviot, attested from 12c. as Chiviet; of uncertain origin; the second element is perhaps Old English geat "gate."
clevis (n.): "U-shaped iron bar with holes for a bolt or pin, used as a fastener," 1590s, of unknown origin, perhaps from the root of cleave (v.2). Also uncertain is whether it is originally a plural or a singular.
crevice (n.): mid-14c., from Old French crevace (12c., Modern French crevasse) "gap, rift, crack" (also, vulgarly, "the female pudenda"), from Vulgar Latin *crepacia, from Latin crepare "to crack, creak" (see raven); meaning shifted from the sound of breaking to the resulting fissure.
daredevil (n.): 1794, "recklessly daring person," from dare (v.) + devil (n.). The devil might refer to the person, or the sense might be "one who dares the devil" (compare scarecrow, pickpocket, cutthroat, also fear-babe a 16c. word for "something that frightens children"). As an adjective, from 1832.
deviance (n.): 1944; see deviant + -ance. A sociologists' word, perhaps coined because statisticians and astronomers already had claimed deviation.
deviant (adj.): c. 1400, from Late Latin deviantem (nominative devians), present participle of deviare "turn aside," from Latin phrase de via, from de "off" (see de-) + via "way" (see via). The noun meaning "one that deviates" is from late 15c.; in the sexual sense, from 1952; also deviate (n.), recorded since 1912.
deviate (v.): 1630s, from Late Latin deviatus, past participle of deviare "to turn out of the way" (see deviant). Related: Deviated; deviating. The noun meaning "sexual pervert" is attested from 1912.
deviation (n.): 1640s, noun of action from deviate (v.). Statistical sense is from 1858. Related: Deviational.
device (n.): late 13c., from Old French devis "division, separation, disposition, wish, desire; coat of arms, emblem; last will," from deviser "to divide, distribute" (see devise). Sense of "method by which something is divided" arose in French and led to modern meaning.
devil (n.): Old English deofol "evil spirit, a devil, the devil, false god, diabolical person," from Late Latin diabolus (also the source of Italian diavolo, French diable, Spanish diablo; German Teufel is Old High German tiufal, from Latin via Gothic diabaulus).

The Late Latin word is from Ecclesiastical Greek diabolos, in Jewish and Christian use, "Devil, Satan" (scriptural loan-translation of Hebrew satan), in general use "accuser, slanderer," from diaballein "to slander, attack," literally "throw across," from dia- "across, through" + ballein "to throw" (see ballistics). Jerome re-introduced Satan in Latin bibles, and English translators have used both in different measures.

In Vulgate, as in Greek, diabolus and dæmon (see demon) were distinct, but they have merged in English and other Germanic languages.

Playful use for "clever rogue" is from c. 1600. Meaning "sand spout, dust storm" is from 1835. In U.S. place names, the word often represents a native word such as Algonquian manito, more properly "spirit, god." Phrase a devil way (c. 1300) was originally "Hell-ward, to Hell," but by late 14c. as an expression of irritation.

Devil's books "playing cards" is from 1729, but the cited quote says they've been called that "time out of mind" (the four of clubs is the devil's bedposts); devil's coach-horse is from 1840, the large rove-beetle, which is defiant when disturbed. "Talk of the Devil, and he's presently at your elbow" [1660s].
devil's advocate (n.): 1760, translating Latin advocatus diaboli, one whose job it is to urge against the canonization of a candidate for sainthood. "[F]ar from being the whitewasher of the wicked, the [devil's advocate] is the blackener of the good." [Fowler]
devil-may-care (adj.): 1837 (but suggested in other forms by 1793).
devilish (adj.): mid-15c.; see devil + -ish. Related: Devilishly; devilishness.
devilled (adj.): "grilled with hot condiments," 1800; see devil.
devilment (n.): 1771; see devil + -ment.
devilry (n.): late 14c., from devil + -ry; deviltry (1788) is a corrupt formation from it.
devious (adj.): 1590s, "out of the way," from Latin devius "out of the way, remote, off the main road," from de via (see deviate). Originally in the Latin literal sense; figurative sense of "deceitful" is first recorded 1630s. Related: Deviously; deviousness. Figurative senses of the Latin word were "retired, sequestered, wandering in the byways, foolish, inconsistent."
devirginate (v.): late 15c.; see de- + virgin + -ate (2). Related: Devirginated.
devise (v.): early 13c., "to form, fashion;" c. 1300, "to plan, contrive," from Old French deviser "dispose in portions, arrange, plan, contrive" (in modern French, "to chat, gossip"), from Vulgar Latin *divisare, frequentative of Latin dividere "to divide" (see divide). Modern sense is from "to arrange a division" (especially via a will), a meaning present in the Old French word. Related: Devised; devising.
Elsevier (n.): early 18c., Elzevir (via French Elzévir), from Dutch Elsevier, the name of a family of Dutch printers famed for the accuracy and elegance of their work; especially in reference to editions of the classics and other works published by them c. 1580-1680.